Memoriam
by Kyrastri
Summary: [In Memoriam] Man forgets, but time never will. Cael is a member of Memoriam, known as the Keepers of time, the writers of legends, the men that were 'forgotten' by humanity and the world... Yet even with their revered status, they suffer from a fate worse than of those they create. (Rated T for graphic scenes)
1. eternal

**eternal**  
**Unto the Beginning: Prologue**  
**Kyrastri**

**A/N: I'm back, I'm back... Though I doubt anyone's remembered me. /ouch**

**Either way, here's a small work I wrote up. It's supposed to be ambiguous, and hopefully I'll be able to flesh out this little tale in my spare time of my spare time. If that makes sense.**

**I'm working on a very big project already, known as 44. A small segment, Death by Midnight, was uploaded here a year ago, which you can still check out. Except it's spiralled well beyond that initial segment, and is currently 147k in word length. If I ever create a beginning, I'll post it here.**

**-K**

* * *

_time-_

In the depths of a forest, at the end of a path, a cottage lays, waiting. Overgrown, rotting, and falling into disrepair, it defiantly stands, braving the elements.

It had not seen a visitor in some time- the door creaks in protest as it opens- yet the contents of the cottage lay in disarray, as if time had destroyed the tranquility of the place.

_-summer-_

In the depths of a timeless forest, at the end of a stone path, a hidden cottage lays, waiting. It had housed a young family of four, the joy and warmth of that time still in the peeling walls.

In the sitting room, a dusty bow lay above the mantelpiece, brittle from no use. The father, a Bowmaster in his prime, treasured the bow as if it were a member of the family.

During the summers, he would return victorious from his day's work. His wife would welcome him home with a kiss and a towel in the face. The night would fill with raucous laughter, the delightful sound of of music seeping into the warm air.

_-autumn-_

In the depths of a fading forest, at the end of a disappearing path, an abandoned cottage lays, waiting. Leaves rustle, filling the silence absent from childish laughter and music that filled it in earlier days.

In the dining room, a grand piano sits, with the lid up. Yellowed sheets of paper sit upon the stand, and many of the strings have snapped. The mother, a well-known Bishop from town, loved playing the piano in her spare time. She was at heart, a musician.

In the autumn afternoons, after the wind had gently scattered the leaves raked that morning, music could be heard from that room. Her children would enjoy it in silence, lulled to sleep by the peaceful melodies.

It filled their long days, where days often too hot for a coat and scarf yet too cold for a shirt meant that lengthy hours were spent inside, gazing outside at the falling leaves.

_-winter-_

In the depths of a dark forest, at the end of a winding path, a lifeless cottage lays, waiting. Slathered with ice and covered in snow, it slowly rots in agonised silence.

In a little room with vibrant walls, a paint can lays on its side, the spilled paint long dry. The daughter longed for arts long gone, badgering her parents for paint and other utensils. She would never paint the forest, for she claimed that the forest followed her wherever she went.

The forest was never ending, timeless. Relentless. Unforgiving.

Instead, she was often seen painting the landscapes she had never known; the sea, the sky, the fields. Never the forest, for it was unyielding. It would always welcome her home, ever the same.

The last unfinished portrait still hanging on the wall, untouched, is of a rotting cottage in the woods. Having never finished painting over the sketchy lines of the forest, she remained true to herself even in her last days.

_-spring-_

In the depths of an old forest, at the end of a cracked path, a dying cottage lays, drawing its last breath. It had lived a timely age, and was overgrown by the plants that have since claimed the land as its territory.

The crumbling cottage, once of life, tells a sombre story. A Bowmaster lived with a respected Bishop that had retired due to illness, instead passing her days in a small cottage in the middle of a forest outside of town.

Their peaceful days, punctuated only by laughter and music, were shattered when their youngest child, a young boy, went missing. Silence built up in the still air, cold and relentless. The bishop's illness grew worse.

Nobody in town heard from the family after that. Time moved on, and man forgot the small family of the cottage. Even so, a traveller will occasionally wander into the forest, never to be seen again.

_-end-_

In the depths of a forest, at the end of a path, a cottage lays. Drawn to dust by the living forest, the same, welcoming embrace draws you closer.

"Welcome home."


	2. seconds

**seconds  
Unto the Beginning: Chapter 1  
Kyrastri**

**A/N: So foul and fair a day I have not seen. I wrote some things. I hope you enjoy it, reader.**

**-K**

* * *

location: Lith Harbour

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

Time whittled itself away as I sat idly on the pier, imitating the sound of a clock. Nobody was around, but I found the solitude strangely refreshing.

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

Lith Harbour was quieter than usual today. The usual chatter by the docks was replaced with a quaint silence that I feared I would miss.

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

The waves still move, the birds still sing. Why did I think they were gone, at all?

_Tick, tock... tock..._

I checked my watch briefly. The entire purpose of it was redundant; I knew what time it was, anyway. 12:37- no, 36- with 4 seconds left.

I stood up, stretched and walked back down the pier, taking one last glance at the glittering ocean before turning to the forests surrounding the town.

"Tick, tock; stop the clock, why don't ya?" I said, laughing at my own joke. It never did anything, but I wondered whether Elaine had given me the wrong place again. Nobody was coming.

12:40 PM by the time of _that_ world. A young man, around my age, would appear here. That's all I needed to know, and all I ever did know.

The trees had started to shift, the familiar shape of a mana sigil forming on the grass. Lucky guy; he didn't end up appearing in a tree. I'd never seen it myself, but I'd heard those horror stories that Betty was always spouting.

_"Three children!"_ She'd shriek. _"They were all thrown into a river that formed the canyon they were playing in!"_, or she'd go off on another spiel about how she had once found a man appearing in a Balrog. Poor bloke.

Small particles of mana were starting to rise from the sigil, casting a sharp light into the forest. I looked away, waiting for the light to fade.

Cold steel forced itself into my abdomen, the sharp, distinctive pain spreading through my body. I stumbled back, still blinded by the light that never seemed to fade.

Slowly, my hand crept up to my stomach, my fingers soaked in the warm fluid, filling me with dread.

So this was how I would die. So this was how _we_ would die.

A lump formed in my throat and I swallowed it desperately, my voice croaking, "No, no, NO!" I was clawing at the clinging wet cloth, clawing in a vain attempt at keeping the blood from gushing. I didn't want to die. I couldn't, not now- I had so much left undone, so muchcx left unsaid-

My movements were turning sluggish. I had fallen on my back, sprawled across the ground, exposed. "Not... not like this..."

A shadow of a figure was standing over me, their breath cool against my sweaty skin. Silence hung in the air as I wretched, curling away from the person, and from life.

Darkness fell.

_I was meant to live out my life on a beach, surrounded by friends...!_

12:04PM, by the time of _that_ world. A young man did not appear. My demise did.

* * *

location: Eternal Forest outskirts

The forest was as serene as it had always been.

I slowly walked around, leaves and twigs snapping below my feet. It was a small, insignificant thing, yet I felt strangely happy about it. I was making my mark in this forest. It was proof that I had existed here, that I had walked this path...

I had been here many times before, trying to remember something. Anything. It took several years to find this place alone. At first, it was a mysterious place, but soon, it became dull, monotonous. Even then, I felt a small pang of despair. I would leave this place soon, much like the others, with nothing but dissapointment and that strange, empty feeling in my stomach.

The band that was eloquently strapped around my wrist pulsed, and I let out a groan before I could stop myself. I left the message alone for a few seconds, then remembered that I would be dragged back anyway. Inevitable, as Rhys would describe it. The message floated in front of me, the forest around me fading out as if it were white noise.

"Return to headquarters immediately. Rhys will be there soon. -Operator"

Sure enough, light was illuminating the shadows of the forest as I let the message disappear. It grew brighter, the greens of the forest eventually fading to white.

"Hey, buddy!" Rhys' voice floated behind me, and I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder. "Still wandering around here? What year is this, anyway?"

"Wouldn't the Operator have told you?" I responded impatiently, carefully removing his limb from myself. "What do they want?"

"Beats me, you know!" he laughed and I opened my eyes again. The light was gone. I watched him carefully. He wasn't wearing the guild uniform, which was a start. So it wasn't a guild mission, after all. Then, what? Rhys interrupted my thoughts when he shouted, "OI, we need to head back!"

I felt myself jolt and I stared at him, wide-eyed. "Sorry?"

"I said that they were probably going to promote you, so we should head back early." a sly grin stretched across his face and I felt him slap me on the back. "But you know, at this rate maybe they won't do it!"

"Hey!" I followed him back to the spot where he had come from. The sigil flashed white, signalling that it was going to close soon. "Come on, then. Or do you want to be stuck here until an Operator finds us and chews us out?"

"Oh come on, I saw you the other day, you were getting real comfy with that prodigy chick, Elin, weren't you?" he said, looking at me with a shifty look. "I heard she was going to be tasked as an Operator, you know! Wouldn't help to have one of us on the inside, huh?"

"She has no desire to be one." I sniffed, crinkling my nose at him. "And we were discussing Memoria usage from the new data released."

The man had completely ignored my previous remark. "Which is you-speak for 'let's hook up', obviously! C'mon! I know you, duh!"

"I'm not quite sure about that." I shook my head. "Look, besides the point. The portal's closing soon."

He looked at where I was pointing, and I heard colour for the umpteenth time that week. "Okay, okay, go in, then! You could totally take them on, you know!"

I laughed. He was clearly scared. "Alright, let's go."

I nodded, and we stepped through together. For the countless time, I left that forest behind in favour of a white light.

* * *

location: Memoriam Guild Headquarters

"Here at Memoriam, we seek, we adapt and we conquer in many ways..."

The man that had handled initiations had hardly changed over the years. Every day, he would repeat the same words with the same enthusiasm as before. I smiled a little at the children, teenagers and adults that were huddled in the lobby, sitting on the lush carpet and on the comfy chairs wide eyed. They were from different places, and different times.

Indeed, Memoriam was the type of place that transcended culture. It was one that built and prided itself on one common factor; that we were all outsiders to the world itself, having been victim to the phenomenon of Memoriam.

The words hung with dread on my mind. How ironic, that we would be condemned to this place that was named after the very thing that took us here.

"There you are." I saw a glimpse of white and black and turned to face Kalon, donned in a suit. "Didn't Rhys retrieve you?"

"He did... sir." I answered before I had even thought to bow to him, hastily nodding my head when I remembered his position. "He left shortly after, sir."

"Oh, don't be so formal." he raised an arm to ruffle my hair. "I'm not that much older than you."

"But your position...?"

"I'm not in uniform now, am I?" he chuckled, amused at my perplexed expression. "Well, granted, I will be soon, but that's for the future."

"Er... Why was I called back in the first place?"

"It's a secret." he winked at me and I could hear a group of girls sigh dreamily near me. "But don't worry! It's a good thing, I promise."

"I'll take your word for it, then." I smiled back, a little reassured. So I wasn't in trouble. A new project, maybe? Who knew. I glanced around the lobby. The new group had already moved on, and a rather large group of girls had passed by, chattering noisily. I turned back to him. I had completely forgotten. "Where am I going, by the way...?"

"The conference room at the end of that hall on the third floor." I could see the twinkle in his eyes as he spoke. "The meeting will start in fifteen minutes."

My eyes felt as if they were trying to bulge out of their sockets. "Only fifteen minutes?" in that instant, I was immediately groping myself for keys; if Rhys had them, I may as well have been doomed to stroll into that room wearing nothing but a shower curtain. "I... I'll have to excuse myself, I don't have my assembly uniform on me..."

"We'll be waiting, then." he smiled, the faint glint of mischief in his eyes. "I'll see you later, Cael."

I nodded and hurried across the busy lobby floor towards the lodging portals. As I ran, I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen at that conference. Maybe they were going to relocate me to another team... Rhys _did_ say that I may be promoted, after all...

The residential establishments at Memoriam were incredibly luxurious, keeping in line with the general, refined air about the place. It had been several years since I had first stalked these halls, searching for my room as a kid, yet the walls never seemed any warmer to me. The cream walls seemed warm, but they did little to offset the cold, forboding feeling that emanated around me. It was bizarre. I had always been here, yet it felt as if I had never set foot in the place, day after day, night after night.

At last, I reached my room, slightly short of breath. I fished out my key from my left pocket. I had it, after all. The lock rattled open and I stepped inside.

The distinct scent of burning cheese wafted out of the room, and I let the door close behind me, tentatively calling out into the still room. "... Rhys?"

"Oh, Cael. Welcome back." I spotted a familiar blond tuft of hair pop out from the counter, covered in cheese.

I gaped at him, completely ignoring the fact that I was very likely to be running late. He was standing there, nonchalantly weilding a spatula whilst liberally splattered with food. "... Thanks... What's going on?"

"I tried to make a lasagne." he pointed to the oven, which appeared to have chunks of metal and food splattered all over it. "It didn't work."

I couldn't help but laugh nervously. "How did you...?" I trailed off, bewildered. He was standing there, covered in _cheese_, and managed to hold a casual conversation. I shook my head, determined not to get off track. "Besides the point. I'm going to get changed."

"Oh, yeah, what was going on with Kalon?" Rhys had taken a chunk of lasagne that wasn't pierced by the pan and set it on a plate as I rushed into my room, fumbling for my uniform and taking off my shirt. "Want some before you go?"

"No thanks, I'm in a rush as it is." I decided to avoid mentioning that it was probably going to kill people. It was for the best. The white coat was a little wrinkly from when I had forgotten to hang it up and the cuffs were getting a little dirty, but aside from that it looked good enough. I quickly switched shoes and checked that my scruffy hair wasn't trying anything funny before darting out. Wasn't the best, but given the short notice, I was content with the end result.

I stowed my room key safely in my pocket and ruffled my hair for good measure in front of a mirror before darting off. "I'm going now."

I managed to catch a glimpse of Rhys waving, lasagne still stuffed in his mouth. "Cya."

Several minutes later, the cream walls of the residential areas had changed to the deep maroon of the conference hall, plants and paintings lining the halls inconspicuously. It was always beyond my comphrehension that there were still unexplored areas in this place. Having never been authorised to go beyond the first few corridors, it felt as if it were an adventure by merely traversing the twisting hallways.

At last, I reached the end of the hall and stopped in front of the sleek, dark doors. I tentatively held my hand out to knock, but the doors swung open as if they knew I was there in the first place.

I glanced back at the empty hallway, took a deep breath and stepped into the room.


End file.
